Elite Championships comes to town this Sunday

IT HAS been a busy few months for the Elite Gym Southport with fighters taking part in various contests.

And the Elite Fighting Championships V is fast approaching on November 4.

This one features England v Spain and is once again held at the Prince of Wales Hotel, Lord Street, Southport.

At the end of September, European Professional Muay Thai Champion Kevin Ward and stable mate Didzis Musulis - three times Area Champion - travelled to Ulm in Germany. Ward was originally set to meet WFCA K1 European Champion Falik Mozel for his title, however Monzel pulled out two weeks prior, only notifying the Elite Camp on arrival in Germany. Ward then had to prepare for a K1 bout against Felder Matthais. Not letting the change of opponent phase him Ward really took the fight to Matthais knowing to get a win away he would have to win by a clear margin. An almost out of character aggressive but impressive style came from Ward as he completely outclassed the tough German who never stopped coming forward, and took a unanimous points victory.

Also on the bill Didzis Musulis, now competing at light middleweight took on German Dimitri Reiger in a 3x3's K1 bout.

A slow start for Musulis saw him draw the first round and marginally loose the second.

Now realising he needed a big third round to gain anything from the fight, Musulis began to look much more like himself.

Landing heavy kicks and at one point he had Reiger in trouble, rocking him with a superbly timed head kick. With Musulis unable to finish Reiger off, the fight went to the score card and was declared a draw.

A week later, in Liverpool, Jake Barton the current Light Middleweight British Champion stepped up a weight to compete for the highly credible ISKA English Crown, challenging the heavy handed Matt Montague from Bolton who won his ISKA title with an impressive knockout against Tony Hewson. Barton set a fast pace from the off, punishing Montague with body shots and was well ahead after two rounds. However, round 3 saw a twist in the tale as Montague landed a straight left hand which put Barton down for an 8 count.

Getting to his feet Barton’s eye was shut from the impact of the punch. Meeting the count to continue Barton then struggled, loosing the vision from his left eye. Montague capitalising well landing a flying knee to Barton's chin knocking him out, a tough lesson to learn for the 18-year-old and dad Phil said: “Jake just lapsed his concentration for a second and in top end fights you just can't switch off”.

A rematch challenge has been issued to the ISKA by the Elite Camp for early 2013 with Montague yet to accept.

Igor Puskarskis made his MMA debut under the Elite Gym. An impressive performance from him, taking his opponent down at will he was able to finish the fight in the second round.

The day after Elite’s young Guns competed in Skelmersdale on an Interclub. Rob Zabitis, Tom Metcalfe and Jess Teevan all showed off their skills coming out on top on the day.

Two weeks after victory in Germany Kev Ward travelled to Halmstad in Sweden to fight against Swedish Champion Rickard Peterson under Thai Rules. However, Ward was not at the fight and was well beaten by an opponent he should have beaten out of sight.

Top of the bill British Champion Jake Barton, sponsored by WindowCare Northwest and powered by Kinetica Sports Supplements www.kineticasports.com go's head to head with the dangerous puncher Julio Sanchez of Spain. Co-Main Event will also be an England v Spain contest with Steve Jones representing Team England.

For those that attended EFC IV Jones needs no introduction, he was seen in the epic battle with Southport's Jake Barton and certainly tested the Champion’s chin. Since his loss to Barton Jones has taken no prisoners picking up the win in an exciting 4-Man Tournament in Telford winning the first fight with a spectacular head-kick knockout in the first round and clinching the second on points to take home the trophy. Jones Takes on Nauzet Diaz who is undefeated in seven contests with five wins and two draws. Diaz hails from the same Spanish camp as Sanchez under the quality instruction of Jaime Cantos and has a very traditional style.

Again this fight lines up as a great fight on paper and Jones will bring his usual big support from Stoke with him, and as I'm sure he impressed many in his fight with Barton earlier this year will have the Southport crowd right behind him and Team England. Anthony Magee (Lee Sayers EFF) and Sam Jackson (Ric Barnhill Super Gym) make up the four man England team.

For tickets contact Phil Barton on 07909666750, or pop into the Elite Gym at unit 25b Shakespeare street.